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ISR Capital's subsidiary, Infiniti Advantage, has entered
into an agreement to invest up to S$2.68 million in Straits Hi-Rel (SHR) in a
move to expand into the high reliability (Hi-Rel) engineering services
business.
The investment will be done in four stages by subscribing
for 16,667 shares in SHR, representing an equity stake of 25 per cent on an
enlarged basis.
In a filing with the local bourse, ISR Capital said SHR, a
private company, was set up to be a provider of Hi-Rel engineering services and
will be structured as a Hi-Rel Technology Centre to be based in Singapore.
The centre will focus on speciality testing and back-end
manufacturing for Hi-Rel integrated chips and electronic modules targeted for
end applications in the automotive, energy (oil and gas) and industrial
sectors.
So far, SHR has yet to commence any operations with regard
to the Hi-Rel Technology Centre.
The investment will be funded using proceeds raised from the
issuance of convertible redeemable bonds.
Cl…

Stage One – The Euphoric Build Up
This is the point of maximum financial risk as the market
builds towards a peak- where Wealth Managers feel invincible. 1986 and 1987
were banner years for the stock market. These years were an extension of an
extremely powerful bull market that had started in the summer of 1982. In 1987
it was five year bull run up while the 2008 crash had earlier seen run up of
again just over 5 years ever since the end of the “dot com crash” which started
on October 9th 2002. As can be seen below, the bull market can take various
numbers of days but most have taken just over 2000 days.

Stage Two – The Final Top
The second stage is a crescendo in the market – this is
often the peak before the market crashes and is characterized by complacency
and the sentiment of the investor is a general feeling of “I can buy any stock
and it will go up”. As you can see from the Chart 6.3: (Oct 2006-September 2007
Dow Jones Industrials) below it can be quite euphoric at or near th…

As sentiment improves, short-sellers find themselves nursing
big losses
Not that many investors will shed any tears for them but
short-sellers are among the biggest losers this year, as major stock markets
around the globe go on a tear.
One major setback they suffered was in the United States,
where their wagers against the high-flying technology stocks - Tesla, Facebook,
Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google - blew up in their faces spectacularly.
In Singapore, their bearish bets have also tapered off
somewhat as stocks have gained in strength.
Data from the financial information provider IHS Markit
shows that the percentage of shares of constituent stocks in the Straits Times
Index (STI) out on loan has now almost halved to 1.04 per cent from 2.02 per
cent in February last year.
Its associate director, Mr Simon Colvin, said: "We have
seen short-sellers continue to cover their positions in the last few months,
taking the average short interest across the STI to its lowest levels in…

Paying in S$ when using your credit cards abroad will rack
up unnecessary extra ch

Anyone who travels at all would have come up against this
scenario - you are ready to pay for your purchase with your credit card when
you have to choose whether to pay in Singdollars or the local currency.
A quick word of advice: always choose the latter.
I have always vaguely understood that using your credit card
to pay in Singdollars while overseas would rack up extra charges but I did not
fully know the extent of the damage until recently, thanks to Mr Aaron Wong,
who runs the popular blog milelion.com, a Singapore-focused travel hacking site
that teaches people to travel better for less.
Mr Wong and I became friends recently when he read a column
I wrote about the dilemma I faced between using credit cards to collect air
miles versus cashback. He proceeded to give me an education in how to get the
most out of my credit cards and chase miles like a pro.
In between his busy schedule of flying aroun…